"Good morning, master! Let's go eat!" said Raitha as she danced above Shyam, who had overslept once again.
"What the heck! Why didn't you wake me sooner, you worthless II!" Shyam said, surprised at what time he had woken up to. Not seven in the morning, not eight, nor nine. A solid eleven in the morning—which is a lot.
"Because I too just woke up, Master!" she said, as if she were proud of what she did.
"And hadn't I told you to stop calling me master? It feels weird," Shyam said, getting ready to leave for a busy day once again.
"I have memory loss, Master! Shyam it is then," she said. For some reason, Raitha had been just so excited the past few days. Her replies weren't as roastful, and her information was better than it used to be.
"I've been wondering—what are you so happy about lately?" Shyam asked out of curiosity as he left the room.
"Nothing of your concern. Though, if you'd like, I can be more hurtful toward your heart, if you so wish, Master Shyam," she said in a playful way.
"No, I'm fine the way things are," Shyam whispered, and finally stepped out of the inn.
The local magic shop was on the radar today, as he wanted to learn more about magic and spells.
He knew a spell called Fireball, but that wasn't going to be enough. He needed more spells to try out from this world. He wanted to feel all that he could—because who knows, one day he might accidentally wake up in his real world with Varnika sleeping beside him.
Completely focused on the map, Shyam reached his destination in just a few moments, as the village wasn't that big. But it looked fascinating all the same—its quietness, even though hundreds of people walked daily on those stone tiles, remained undisturbed.
The old-style buildings—almost impossible to spot in the modern days of his real world—were here. What people called luxury on Earth was just a simple house design here in niścaya.
Shyam entered the shop slowly. A little curious, a little nervous, and a little excited all at once, he paced his steps carefully, inspecting the shop. There weren't many magic books or items, but for Shyam, they were all amazing!
To him, they shone like gold on a full moon night.
"Well, if it isn't a young man!" an old woman spoke from behind the dark—mysterious, yet calm. As if she had power but only used it when she needed to.
"Hello," Shyam said, looking toward the direction where the voice came from.
"It's rare to see anyone with an interest in magic nowadays, especially someone as young as you," she said as she stepped out of the dark. Shyam could see her clearly now. Purple clothes and an old face. She had a stick for support as she walked toward him, her steps slow and steady.
"This old body has gotten just too old, hasn't it now. Guess I can't go fish for the legendary red salmon today, huh," she said, her voice quiet, just barely audible.
Shyam caught her words—a sparkle of interest could be seen in his eyes. "Legendary red salmon?" Shyam asked curiously.
"Haven't you heard about it? The legendary red salmon, which spawns thrice a year. It's supposed to spawn today as well, but I'm too old to leave this shade. Hey! I know—would you like to go fish it? I'm old anyway, so I won't need it. You could use it to increase your magic power and—I have a fishing rod as well," the old woman said as she entered her small cabin and came out with an old-looking fishing rod. It was simple and made of bamboo.
"Why are you trusting your rod to a stranger like me, ma'am?" Shyam asked, simply surprised by how fast things were happening. First the guild master trusted him with a task, and now this woman—whom he didn't even know—was giving him free stuff. As thankful as he was, it all seemed a little suspicious.
"Well, there's not a big reason. I just happen to see you as a good person, is all. Though if you wish to decline, I understand."
Seeing her play it soft, Shyam decided to play along. Many people had been nice to him since being reincarnated here. Maybe the people of this world were all the same? If not all, then some at least. And those some were the people Shyam had met during his journey thus far.
"Alright, if you say so, I'll do my best to catch the legendary red salmon!" said Shyam, and finally took the fishing rod.
After talking more about the fish and where to catch it, Shyam took off on another side quest of his life—to catch a fish today.
As he walked toward the river, memories surfaced—of the time his daughter Ira had wished to go fishing. But due to his busy schedule, he couldn't take her.
He regretted it now.
But there was nothing he could do anymore.
For now, at least, he was in a new and different world. One where he knew no one from his original life.
Getting self-depressed, Shyam finally found a good spot near the river. The stream flowed calmly and the water passed without any stops.
Shyam sat down on a rock and threw the fishing rod into the water.
"So, do you actually plan to catch that fish?"
Asked Raitha as she sat near him in her fairy form.
"If luck stays with me, then I shall," Shyam replied, and they both fell silent.
Staring into the river water, Shyam thought about the things he'd done since coming here.
But nothing that he thought of made him forget his original world—the people he cared about and the places he had yet to explore.
Though maybe it was because of his own will to fulfill the dream of adventuring into the world.
To explore places and find artifacts worth researching.
But never did he ever think it'd be a whole new world, rather than just a new country in his own.
Suddenly, the rod tickled—as if someone had started pulling the string from beneath the water. Shyam noticed it and held the rod tightly as he pulled.
Raitha, upon seeing a fish had been caught, suddenly jumped and started pulling the rod as well.
As the string came closer, her heart pounded faster—excited to eat a legendary fish—but what came next broke her heart.
It was just an ordinary fish.
Though even that would be considered lucky for them, since they hadn't eaten any meat since the last time Pallabi treated them to some.
Whether it's fish or anything else, they could finally taste a little meat in their mouths.
"Welp, this is a disappointment, huh?" Raitha said. She stared at the fish as if she'd throw it on a rock with only her eyes.
If one could kill just by staring, the fish would've been dead a hundred times by now.
"We can't just throw it into the river again, and I forgot to bring any bucket. Where should we put this thing?" Shyam said, as he tried to put the fish in his bag but stopped midway—it could make his stuff wet.
"I told you to buy a storage ring before, but you ignored it!"
Shyam's memories struck—he remembered Raitha had said something like that before when he needed something to carry a large amount of herbs.
But he had ignored her advice… for what reason, even he had forgotten.
He also remembered she suggested buying it at Taralaya City Capital.
"But, didn't you tell me to buy it at Taralaya?" he asked.
"Well, you could, but now you have V gold—enough to buy the lowest storage ring. Besides, even in Taralaya you'd get the same space for the same price, so why not buy it now from your system shop?"
She explained as she yet again moved in circles, like a teacher on a mission.
"Oh yeah, I do have a shop—I almost forgot about that," he said and opened the shop window.
Suddenly, a new system window popped up. Unlike any of the windows he had seen so far, this one had a different layout. Items were displayed in grids—from weapons to gear and much more.
There were countless items, with prices not going lower than a hundred V gold.
Though their quality spoke for itself. There was even a search bar Shyam could use to search for the storage ring—otherwise, it would take him days just scrolling through the list of items he didn't even recognize.
One even had the name:
[Godly Beastfull Upgrade Stone ER - 9000 / Price - 100K V gold]
He almost fainted seeing the price—but was relieved to know he had 0.1% of that amount.
"I am not opening this shop menu unless I'm absolutely required to!"
Shyam whispered in brokenness, as he searched for storage ring in the bar and became even more sad seeing the price of the lowest one.
[Storage Ring T1 / Space - 10x10x5M / Price - 80 V gold]
His will to avoid the shop menu became even stronger with each item price he saw.
With a stone over his heart and no money in his pocket, he somehow tapped the purchase button and closed the menu right away.
Even as he was closing it, he saw the price of the T3 storage ring—and an invisible arrow pierced his chest.
[Storage Ring T3 / Space - 100x100x15M / Price - 400 V gold]
The dream he had, where he thought having 100 V gold showed his richness...
turned out 100 V gold meant no gold in the system shop.
After being emotionally broken by price tags, Shyam got back to fishing.
Now that he had the storage ring, he transferred the fish into it.
Apparently, storage rings were a real thing here, and the mid-level blacksmiths of this world could make them—although made and sold for less than ten gold coins, by the time they reached small cities like Taralaya, the price jumped to eighty gold coins or more!
Of course, the magic that created space in the rings wasn't from the blacksmiths, but from mages.
Maybe later on, Shyam wouldn't need to buy them—he could make them himself.
That way, he wouldn't feel broke so often.
Though the day started with excitement to catch a legendary fish, Shyam ended up fishing the entire day...
and only found regular, ordinary fish.
His storage ring now had well over twenty raw fish—dead, because storage rings don't have oxygen in them!
"So... what are you planning to do with these fishes?" Raitha asked, staring at the river like a lonely girl who had no boyfriend even after trying over a hundred times.
As if her life had no meaning, and her skills didn't matter anymore.
Shyam looked at her and said,
"You know, your act isn't worth even a silver coin? Come on, let's eat these. I have Fireball, remember?"
He walked toward the trees, and Raitha followed with her usual facial expressions.
"At least I'm worth something, unlike you," she replied to his words.
"Yeah right!"
And just like that, their time passed.
Sometimes he'd roast her, sometimes she'd cook him... but in the end, they both laughed like two kids who found peace after a long fight over something silly.
Shyam used his Fireball magic to start a small fire.
There, they smoked the fish and ate like they hadn't eaten meat in days.
---
The next day, Shyam did nothing but wander around the village, talk to a few people, and take lots of rest.
(And yeah, he returned the fishing rod too, along with the leftover fish.)
Because from the next day—he would kickstart his journey once again.
Estimatedly, he should reach Taralaya City Capital in just a week...
if no danger occurred.
---
—TO BE CONTINUED!
Ch-15